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This episode of DNews is brought to you by Audible.
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All you kids out there who hate waking up early for school? Worry not, 'cause science has your back.
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Hey guys, Tara here for DNews - and like many of you out there, I am NOT a morning person.
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Having to wake up at 6 am every single day was probably the thing I hated most about school growing up
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and now, there's research to prove that it can actually affect our academic performance.
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A new study conducted throughout 718 public elementary schools in Kentucky, finds that
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earlier school start times are associated with lower performance, but ONLY in students from middle or upper class backgrounds.
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Researchers assessed academic performance using standardized test scores, as well as
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attendance rates, teacher-student ratios, and retention rates,
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which is the number of students required to repeat a certain grade.
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They theorized that earlier start times would be associated with lower performance in almost all of those areas,
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particularly in disadvantaged schools. But to their surprise,
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the results showed that wasn't true. Kids who attended schools in disadvantaged districts saw no difference in performance,
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regardless of what time school started.
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However, children attending affluent schools, saw a significant decrease in academic performance, the earlier school started.
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Researchers say sleep deprivation could be what's at hand here.
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Not getting enough sleep could cause students to lose the ability to remain alert and focused in class and it may also lead to an increase in illness.
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As for why this only seems to affect children in affluent schools, the answers are still mostly unknown.
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Although they believe it may be because disadvantaged children have so many other risk factors at play.
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Now before we start rallying to have schools start at 9 am, there were some other unexpected findings.
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The study also found that the later school starts, the higher the chance there is of students having to repeat grades.
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For every additional minute later school starts,
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retention rates increase by 0.2 %. So starting the school day off even 5 minutes later than normal,
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could lead to a 1 % increase in the amount of students being held back.
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Now, that's pretty antithetical to the rest of the study, which links later start times with improved performance,
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but one possible explanation for that, researchers say, is that starting school later may cause average students to improve,
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while those with learning disabilities have an even harder time keeping up.
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They also warn that because this is the first study to ever examine the relationship between school start times and student retention in pre-adolescents,
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more research is needed before solid conclusions can be drawn.
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Still, think of all the things you could get done if school didn't start til 10 am!
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You could read a book - or better yet, you could listen to a book on Audible.com!
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Audible is the leading provider of downloadable digital audiobooks and spoken word entertainment.
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And they've got over 100,000 titles to choose from, including books for kids!
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Just download them to your iPod or MP3 player, and listen to them anywhere you want - on the bus,
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at home, or at recess, if you're one of the indoor kids. No shame in that, it's the reason I'm so pale!
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Best of all, you can get a free audiobook download of your choice by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/dnews.
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Every sign-up helps support the show, and encourages reading - the best education of all.
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In the meantime, let us know what you think of this study! Would you hate it, or love it, if school started a half hour later?
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Parents, I'm sure you feel differently than your kids,
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but let us know anyway! Just leave your answers in the comments below
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and as always, thank you guys for watching!